Business.com to close down

[bill]

One would assume that the Business.com brand and URL are still worth quite a bit.

Dex One Realigns Interactive Operations [eon.businesswire.com]

Dex One Corporation today announced it is realigning its interactive operations and will fully integrate Business.com into Dex One. As a result, the company plans to phase out the standalone, national business-to-business sales and marketing operation and focus exclusively on the Dex One business.

"Three years ago, Dex One required an infusion of talent and technology assets to support the expansion of its digital portfolio. The purchase of Business.com enabled Dex One to build the DexKnows.com local search platform, create the DexNet distributed ad network, and develop a robust account and content management system,” said Alfred Mockett, chief executive officer of Dex One. “While the acquisition delivered on a number of fronts, the Business.com operations are no longer viable and are not a part of our long-term plans."

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I'm not a fan of the "take one thing apart to build another" approach. Surely better use of the domain could be brainstormed than "no longer part of our longterm plans" ?

[kartiksh]

just checked dexknows.com with simple query, pizza

and you know what it retruned all results with Did you mean: plaza
Results for "plaza" with non us location. it still gives ok result if searched with accurate US city name.

[Whitey]

Maybe Google's place search / directory was the final nail : [webmasterworld.com...]

[weeks]

I spent several years in the b2b area. There is no "business" category. B2B has always been about targeting. WW is an excellent example of how it is done right.

Because of this, it's difficult to pull together enough audience to attract ads. Again, WebmasterWorld is an excellent example of a good biz model. Even The Wall Street Journal saw this and insisted on subscriptions.

[Rugles]

Too bad, the directory was a pretty valuable link to get at one time. I seem to recall this was one of those domains that was sold for a stupid amount of money during the dot com bubble.

How did that work out?

[Jon_King]

>>Maybe Google's place search / directory was the final nail

Ya think? :)

The domain sold for 350 million USD in 2007 - Can you believe that!

[netmeg]

Some of my B2B clients did pretty well with their PPC and directory listings up until earlier this year. Then every thing kind of fell off, and I pulled 'em all out. Kinda sad to see it happen.

[dvduval]

Trying to be a directory of everything doesn't make sense anymore. However, directories in niches and local directories are still hot. I think this is more a case business.com failing to improve their business model over time. As I look at the site it is pretty underwhelming.

[potentialgeek]

It always seemed like such a weak business model for such a strong business domain name.

[roycerus]

They should've acquired a few business communities and made it a business resource center plus(+) the directory.

[walkman]

The domain sold for 350 million USD in 2007 - Can you believe that!

It was more than a domain back then, but still way too expensive.

Dexknows is not exactly a killer brand idea

[Whitey]

domain sold for 350 million USD in 2007

.... and some poor paper holders with debt at the end of the finance chain will be working that off for a long time. Maybe in Iceland or Ireland. That's business.

[weeks]

I think this is more a case business.com failing to improve their business model over time.

They should've acquired a few business communities and made it a business resource center plus(+) the directory.

Yeah, but that would have been a lot of work. They would have had to get people who knew what they were talking about. Who has time for that?!?

Anyway...If they had pick a few hot areas--finance, health care, automotive--and focused on them, they would have done better than trying to be a directory for everyone everywhere.

[cabowabo]

So, I would assume we need to cancel our recurring billing with them or they will keep billing us for nothing, right?

[Jon_King]

>>It was more than a domain back then

Yes, I was being flip but seriously, having done quite a bit in industrial directory business when print was the thing, the online version never came close to the usefulness and reliability for sourcing products and services. In fact to me, it seemed but a glorified and expensive spam directory.

I am not saying I could have figured out the online model, but to this day nothing has come close to the old print versions for industrial product, component and services sourcing.

[bwnbwn]

I did business with them 4-6 years ago can't quite remember the time but I was not impressed with the results, and only stayed with them for about 6 months. I did better doing the ppc myself.

[SEOPTI]

They ran a huge promotion for business.com listings a few days before announcing this.

Talk about business ethics! They just needed to milk the cow before they close the doors.

[ebound]

"It always seemed like such a weak business model for such a strong business domain name."

Couldn't agree more. The directory could have easily been one piece of a variety of services. Imagine the content they could library they could have built over all those years.

[menj]

What a shame that they decided to dismantle it. I would love to get my hands on that domain name however.

[robdwoods]

I've never used them as anything but a directory link. Tried other options several ways and was never able to get a positive ROI

[np2003]

LinkIed should acquire business.com and make a facebook out of it

[onepointone]

Over the years I keep thinking, people always overestimate the power of a good domain name. Sure it's nice to have, but only a small piece of the puzzle.

Except for the domain speculators, I guess...

[Webwork]

overestimate the power of a good domain name

Nah.

It's more like people, myself included, underestimate everything else . . . that goes into taking an idea and turning that idea into a successful online business.

"It's work, man. Every day work."

"Almost like . . like it's a job . . dude."

"Bummer, dude! Bummer! I thought your were onto something with that Business.com domain thing."

:p and ;)

[LifeinAsia]

Update: Dex One Sells Business.com [socaltech.com]